Depletion of endogenously biotinylated carboxylases enhances the sensitivity of TurboID-mediated proximity labeling in Caenorhabditis elegans

tag. This allows us to deplete them from C. elegans lysates using immobilized metal affinity chromatography. To demonstrate the method's efficacy, we use it to expand the interactome map of the presynaptic active zone protein ELKS-1. We identify many known active zone proteins, including UNC-10/RIM, SYD-2/liprin-alpha, SAD-1/BRSK1, CLA-1/CLArinet, C16E9.2/Sentryn, as well as previously uncharacterized potentially synaptic proteins such as the ortholog of human angiomotin, F59C12.3 and the uncharacterized protein R148.3. Our approach provides a quick and inexpensive solution to a common contaminant problem in biotin-dependent proximity labeling. The approach may be applicable to other model organisms and will enable deeper and more complete analysis of interactors for proteins of interest.